While Tuesday’s contest against the Colorado Rockies produced a more disappointing outcome compared to Monday’s walk-off, Shohei Ohtani started off the game with a historic blast.
Ohtani smacked a leadoff home run against Michael Lorenzen on Tuesday, which was not only his 25th leadoff home run as a Dodger, but the 300th home run of his big league career. Ohtani stands alone as the only Japanese-born player with at least 300 home runs in MLB history— let alone 200.
Ohtani is now 60 percent of the way to his ideal goal of 500 career home runs, as Sonja Chen of MLB.com notes that Dave Roberts and the coaching staff are looking forward to experience that special day.
“It was quite the homer,” manager Dave Roberts said. “It was squared up, got out in a hurry, and 300, he got there pretty quickly for us. I just marvel at him every day…” Even before Ohtani joined the 300 club, the Dodgers were already envisioning him reaching far loftier heights, with Roberts saying they’re “always talking about the 500 club.” ”I mean, he just had a birthday,” Roberts said. “Still young, still strong. So I definitely think 500 is in his future.”
With that 300th career home run, Ohtani now becomes the first Dodger this season to reach the 20-home run plateau, a feat he has achieved in six consecutive seasons. When taking a gander at the Home Run Derby, there have been just two participants announced; Junior Caminero and Ben Rice.
Ohtani is no stranger to competing in the derby, as he did so with the Angels during the 2021 festivities at Coors Field in Denver. As far as Ohtani doing the same again for the Dodgers this year, that dream was shot down by Dave Roberts, reports Jack Harris of the California Post.
“When you’re Shohei, he understands the responsibility he has,” Roberts said. “So I do think that there’s a middle for what’s best for him [during the All-Star Game], with what potentially could be downside, but also what’s best for the game. So don’t see him in the Home Run Derby. Don’t see him pitching. But I do see him taking an at-bat or two, yes.”
The Dodgers bullpen ultimately overshadowed another dominant start from Justin Wrobleski on Tuesday, as the left-hander carved up Colorado’s offense for nine strikeouts over seven innings and allowing just one run.
Wrobleski spoke with Kirsten Watson of SportsNet LA following Tuesday’s loss, getting his personal assessment on what has been a breakout first half.
“I think I’ve thrown the ball pretty well. I think there’s always stuff you can nitpick and try to improve on, but for the most part, in the categories that I try to be good at, I’ve done a pretty good job. It’s just a matter of continuing to hammer those and to do what I need to do to be myself and hammer my strengths.”
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